Gun Shops, of Days Gone By...

[ponch]

daves in Elkhart down a small rd by where the cop shop is now small little shop 10' wide 20-25' deep dave was a pleasant sort of guy almost like yer granddad

 

[SSGSAD]

I remember Indpls. Sports Hq., I grad. HS with a guy that worked there, Scott.
I bought my first handgun, from Em Roes, at So. Plaza..... in 1977.....


Ruger .22 in the avatar .....

 

[silverspoon]

I think all the old famous one's I remember someone has already mentioned. In Bloomington there was Warren's up on 11th St then he moved down to Switz City. I was a pretty young lad but he always treated me good. Still got an old Winchester 9422 Magnum I bought off him. Stewarts was down town. That was like going into the Kleindorfers of gun shops. That lady had a little of everything in there and towards the end there was more of other stuff than guns. The guy out on Kirby Road was a good guy to deal with. He was an old mail man that retired and opened a gun shop. Then there was Purcell's up on 11 & Rogers. The guy running the show out at MC Sports had a little shop there right beside the donut shop before he took the job at MC Sports. I can't remember what the name of it was. Henderson's Guns out in Bean Blossom was a pretty neat place. Gotta lot of good memories dealing with that old man. He was truly one of a kind. For instance I went in there one Saturday and seen a 9422 XTR that I really liked. I talked to him about it and told him I would be back for it. So the next Saturday I went back in there with the cash but he had forgotten and sold the gun to someone else. I didn't really get mad but I was surely disappointed and he knew I was disappointed and kept apologizing. But we talked for awhile and I left. Tuesday of the following week he called me and told me he had that 9422 and I needed to come pick it up. I guess he had called the gentleman he sold it to and explained the situation and gotten it back. I still have that 9422 XTR in my safe. How many folks would do that? I have several other stories about dealing with that fella and they are all good. They didn't come much better that's for sure. Craigs out by Crane was another fine place to deal with.

I miss those places but I guess I'm building more memories now at a few other places.

 

[jcwit]

How bout the old gun shop on the corner down at Friendship? Can't remember the name, some of you older fellows might help me out there with the name. Seems like the owner stopped a holdup in the town with an old cap & ball pistol once.

 

[The Sandman]

Braman's, which changed into Franks Sports Shop in Lafayette. I spent many an hour of my younger days in there.

 

[bart1533]

Spencer bait and tackle. Gene was a Kool olé cat.. miss that place. ..

 

[X ring]

Notes Gun Shop
Lebanon,In

 

[Skullglide]

Schiuszi's Police Gear in Lafayette. Miss that place.

 

[calcot7]

Bill and Bob Burris's Broad Ripple Gun Shop. Or was it Sport Shop? Spent many hours and a fair amount of money there. Was good friends with Bill's son in law who worked there for awhile. Also worked with him building and remodeling homes in the 70's and 80's. Miss that place. Also, there was the Bullet Hole at 96th and Keystone that closed around the same time as BRG.

 

[level0]

When I was a kid I would always spend a week with my grandparents in Casey, Illinois, for the start of squirrel season. I was ten years old, and my grandad and I would drive into town to Arndt's hardware store and he'd send me in there with a few dollars to buy a box of 410 3 inch #6 shot and a box of 22 short hollow points. I was shooting an H&R 410 single shot. Most fun I ever had hunting.

Not a gun shop but a great memory for me

 

[Robert Richardson]

S&T in Greenwood, run by Jim Phillips, great guy, and a very good Hi-Power rifle shooter.
Albros, in Beech Grove. Was told Rick sold a lot of consignment guns and never paid the owners and pocketed store money after dad retired.
Accurate Firearms in Whiteland. Owner was making a target pistol, 22LR. Spent too much of moms money, never made the pistol. He got lazy. Mom got tired of it all.